Key Requisites for an Entry Level IT Key Requisites for an Entry Level IT Professional & ITES BPOProfessional & ITES BPO

byby Radhika SareenRadhika Sareen

TATA Consultancy Services LimitedTATA Consultancy Services Limited

A Paradoxical Situation

India now a global software brand, Sector’s brilliant performance made possible by the Human Resources deployed

India’s basic Engineering educational system is robust in conventional branches which has been leveraged by IT sector employers to a great extent

All studies indicate that we face an acute shortage of Human Resources for IT

IT sector in India has managed to garner only 2% of global market - again surprisingly because of Human Resource constraints

The quality of relevant IT education has lagged behind. We do not have a mapping of a taxonomy of IT careers against appropriate education & training contents

Game of numbers results in ill equipped institutes luring students who become misfits in the industry

Software as a Profession: Some Inherent Constraints

No Consensus on ‘Body of Knowledge’ to define the scope & boundary of the profession

‘Loose’ and not an Exact Application of Engineering principles

No strict Laws / Invariant properties as in Science….

Large set of stakeholders

Certification at a nascent stage

Ethical business standards yet to set deep roots

Software Developer - Evolution

Personality type (Myers-Briggs Personality Model)– Introversion (vs. Extroversion)– Sensing (vs. Intuition)– Thinking (vs. Feeling)– Judging (vs. Perceiving)– Programmer (vs. Consultant)

Challenge– Ability to move across the spectrum, like an oscillating pendulum– Evolving Software Profession (barely 50 year old worldwide, still younger

in India)

– Evolution (“Programming” to “Solution Providing”)

Current Software Scenario

Immature discipline (Craft?? Commerce?? Profession??)

Heterogeneous input from engineering colleges

Business and applications are prime drivers of technology

Gaps in Formal Education – need to focus on

– Knowledge of permanent value and not fleeting skills (“Engineering Mindset”)

– Synthesis abilities along with analytical abilities – Abstraction capabilities and not solution schemes for a given problem– Holistic thinking– Problem solving orientation

Bridging the Gaps

Focus on strengthening the fundamentals Develop a multi-disciplinary and holistic approach Ability to relate to real-world problems Improve abstraction capabilities Soft Skills Business Skills Reading Habit Career Orientation Variety Management (“Customization”)

Soft Skills– what are they?

Communication

Time Management

CommitmentAssertiveness

Team work

Dining Table Manners

Personal Grooming

Initiative

Relationships

Conflict Resolution

Integrity

Business & Social Etiquette

Cross Cultural

Business Skills – what are they?

Business Drivers

Customer Order Management

Business ProcessesProduct

Development

Financial Controls

Ve

rtic

als

Project Management

Business Analysis

Functional Expertise

Strategic PlanningDomain Skills

Knowledge Management

Commercial Awareness

Legal Awareness

Global Market Trends

Key PersonalityCharacteristics

Discipline Knowledge,Training / Seminars & Technical Skills

Educationand FormalQualifications

Special Abilities, if any

Mental andEmotional Abilities

Five Major Dimensions that IT Companies Evaluate…Five Major Dimensions that IT Companies Evaluate…

Entry level IT Consultant’sQualities

INTELLECTUALABILITIES

PERSONALATTRIBUTES

• Knowledge of IT• Communication Skills• Reasoning Ability• Analytical Ability• Creative Ability• Core discipline knowledge

• Emotional Maturity• People Sensitivity• Situation Sensitivity• Drive & Determination• Initiative• Ethics and Integrity• Physical & Mental Health

What the Industries look for?

Attitude 35%Attitude 35%

Image and Image and Appearance Appearance 10%10%

CommunicationCommunication(Verbal & (Verbal &

Non-verbal)Non-verbal)25%25%

Technical Skills Technical Skills & Qualifications& Qualifications30% 30%

How Candidates Get Rated

in Interviews?

Role of an individual in Achieving Organizational Effectiveness

Personal Effectiveness

Market Study by Robert Half Technology, U.S.A.

53% of CIO’s said they offer IT employees trainings in Non-IT areas, in a survey of 1,420 CIOs done by an independent research group for Robert Half Technology, a global provider of technology professionals.

70% of the business services companies spend time and money on training their resources on softskills

Impact

Hits the bottom line

Generic Training Model

Feedback

Skill Set Required

Induction Training

Hiring

Entrance Tests

Career Plan

Project Needs Technolog

y

Just-in Time Training

Project

Continuing Education Programs

Feedback

Training Material

Knowledge Management

Learning & Development at TCS

• Objectives• Develop Total Professionals • Technical / Managerial / Domain Skills, and Attitudes

• Plough back Project Experience into “Learning & Sharing”

• L&D at TCS – Emphasizes Life Long Learning– Covers all staff– Driven by proactive and reactive considerations– Meets company needs, individual aspirations and technology

trends

TCS Induction Model

Concepts - Skill - Attitude Triad– Engineering Process

• 3 Core Competencies (Dr. F.C. Kohli)• Simulated real-life case implementation

– Core fundamentals– Technologies– Life skills

“Learning to Learn” paradigm Feedback & measuring effectiveness of training

What Overseas Clients of Several IT Companies Have to Say?

Spoken English sounds like Greek and Latin… Pedestrian writing skills, no e-mail etiquettes Insensitive towards cross-cultural issues…. Lack of grooming makes you guys lesser mortals Utter disregard to the dress code…. Lack of personal and community hygiene…. Under-developed table manners, lack of dining discipline…. Lack of soft skills, less idea about art of living No sense of humor…. Dearth of well rounded professionals, incomplete guys Lack of multi-disciplinary competency and holistic approach Inability to relate to real-world problems, inability to see the larger

picture Little abstraction capabilities Lack of business domain appreciation IT fundamentals not too strong, lack of in-depth knowledge…. Problem of treating job as an extension of the campus Technicians rather than consultants Too many boys, very few men Moved up the value chain is a distant cry on the horizon

Where Non-Premium IT Institutes Lack?

Paucity of High Quality IT Faculty– Compensation challenges– Industry opportunities drive job-seekers away from academics– Re-tooling, continuing education & faculty development a distant cry on horizon– Most teachers entered academics by compulsion than by choice, not role models

Infrastructure Constraints– Obsolescence of Computing Resources– Expensive Software Licenses– Bandwidth limitations– Inadequate subscription of International Books and Journals

Dilution in Education Standards– Relatively lower focus on IT fundamentals– Curriculum re-design far too infrequent – Money the prime driver rather than academics – Lack of seriousness in the non-creamy layer of students– Lack of stringent examining standards– Lack of industry-academia interface compels the institutes to remain in their shell– Inadequate interaction with professional bodies like IEEE, NASSCOM and CSI – Virtually no focus on soft and communication skills

Indicative IT Curriculum

Compulsory Courses Basic Mathematics Advanced Mathematics Basics of Business Algorithms and Automata Systems Thinking Basics of Information Systems Overview of Technology Elements

– Architectures & Distributed Computing – Advanced data structures – Object Oriented Concepts– GUI - Visual Programming Languages– RDMS – Data Communication, Computer Networks,

TCP / IP & Internet Detailed Technology Elements Embedded Systems Basic Software Engineering Advanced Software Engineering Software Project Management Soft Skills

Electives Intelligent Systems ERP & CRM Systems Image Processing & Geographic

Information Systems E- Business Systems Cryptography & Data Security Information Management Healthcare & Biomedical Systems E-Governance IT & Society Net-Centric Computing Mobile Computing Business Intelligence Systems Industrial & Process Control Systems Multi-Media & Entertainment Systems Formal Methods Flexible Manufacturing Systems 

Suggestion & Pointers for Delegates

Recast your IT curriculum with focus on fundamentals (Creating Human Resources for Information Technology - A Systemic Study on NASSCOM site)

Introduce business skills and consulting methodology teaching Introduce extensive teaching of soft-skills by experts

– Cultural sensitivity training– Grooming– Dress code– Communications & Presentation Skills– Table manners, dining discipline– Attitudinal change workshops

Encourage systems engineering as a discipline Have enough foreign Books & Journals, create incentives for

reading, create intellectual assets and have electronic knowledge repositories

Usher in incentives for faculty thru compensation & research opportunities

Have IT companies of repute as Campus Mentors Pro-actively solicit interaction with industry associations like

NASSCOM, IEEE, CSI, etc. for an on-going industry-academia interface

Shun ‘laid back’ attitude, do not subscribe to ‘çhalta hai’ syndrome, have the ‘fire in the belly’, become agents of change for creating an academic environment & be passionate to make quality a way of life at the campus

ASSESSMENT AT ENTRY LEVEL: TEN COMMANDMENTS ASSESSMENT AT ENTRY LEVEL: TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. Energy, Drive and Initiative2. Education Performance Trend over Time (consistency)3. Extra-curricular accomplishments to gauge Management and Organizational Ability4. Problem Solving & Thinking Skills5. Technical Competency & Potential to Learn6. Team & Leadership Ability7. Schooling 8. Family Background 9. Character, Values, Commitment & Goals10. Personality & Culture Fit11. Focus on the Soft Skills/Life Skills

Holistic Education

Technical Skills

Soft skills

Business Skills

Radhika.sareen@tcs.com